The Ride
by dancingqueen021
Summary: Missing scene from 1x16. Where the car ride leaves off...Kat and Patrick get to know each other a little more.


Kat couldn't stop smiling at Patrick's face, or at their intertwined hands. _"He let me in! He let me in!"_ her thoughts were screaming in her head. But trying to play it cool, Kat cleared her throat and began,

"So, how about you tell me one thing about you, and then I'll tell you one thing about me?" she chanced a glance over at his face. His expression was of pure amusement.

"Alright. I have a sweet tooth, that's why you found me eating cupcakes," he confessed, grinning at Kat. Kat grinned back, trying to remember to focus on the road, instead of his inside-melting smile.

"Kay, my guilty pleasure movie is _Mean Girls_, don't ask me why," she admitted.

"_Mean Girls_? Hmm, interesting, my shrink would probably go on on some long tangent about how that says a lot about your personal image issues, but I'll just let it go," Patrick said teasingly. Kat, shocked at Patrick's laidback joke, was silenced momentarily before spitting back,

"First kiss?" smirking smugly into her rearview mirror.

"Kacey Valley, eighth grade, spin the bottle," Patrick said with a slight shudder, then replied "First boyfriend?"

"Uh, he's nobody, nobody important anyways," Kat muttered, trying to suppress the memory.

"Aw come on, I told you my first kiss, I NEVER tell girls that," Patrick reasoned, his thumb rubbing the back of Kat's hand.

"No!" Kat exclaimed, pulling her hand out of Patrick's, slapping it back onto the steering wheel. When she looked over to see Patrick staring at her, hand suspended mid-air, she sighed, "Sorry, touchy subject, I'll tell you about it some other time," she explained, smiling apologetically over at Patrick.

"It's cool, I get it," Patrick responded in his deep baritone, he reached over and placed his hand on Kat's thigh, rubbing it slightly before removing it again, but that did not stop the goose-bumps from forming all over Kat's arms.

"Um, so why the Padres? Why not the Dodgers?" Kat asked, attempting to regain focus on the road in front of her.

"Cause everybody hates the Dodgers, besides Dodgers' fans, and I'm a Padres fan cause my dad used to take me to games when I was little," Patrick explained. Kat smiled at the mental picture of a little Patrick in a baseball jersey, excitement lighting up his face.

"Gotcha, I don't really follow sports that much, but one time my dad took me and Bianca to a Reds' game, it was fun, until Bianca spilt all her popcorn and refused to stop crying," Kat grimaced at the memory.

"Well maybe sometime I can take you to a Padres game," Patrick said, looking out the window.

"Yea, that'd be cool," Kat replied just as coolly, but when she turned to look out the window at the stoplight, she grinned at her reflection. By this point they were a block away from the school, and Kat was getting the same feeling she always gets when Patrick leaves, it's almost like she went through withdrawals. She knew it was unhealthy to be so attached to a guy who half the time is never around, but she couldn't help it, he drew her in with his teasing, and his mocking and his charming smile. She pulled into the parking lot and slid into a spot. As she shut the engine off she turned to face Patrick, who was watching her with intense concentration.

"What?!" Kat asked, blushing slightly at the look in his eyes.

"Just trying to remember you in this exact moment," Patrick began to explain, his hand reaching out to tuck her wavy hair behind her ear.

"And why's that?" Kat asked quietly.

"Cause I don't think you've been this quiet since our first dance," Patrick said teasingly, tilting his head at her.

"I have another fact about me," Kat started, glancing down at her fiddling fingers.

"Mmm, what's that?" Patrick asked curiously.

"Our dance, was my first slow dance," she admitted smiling.

"Same," was all Patrick said before he lent in.

His hand wound around her neck, cupping the back of her head. She smiled into the kiss at the familiarity of his lips on hers. She reached up, resting her right hand on the arm that was on her neck, the other hand sliding across the center console and onto his warm knee. Patrick deepened the kiss, and when Kat nipped at his lower lip, he involuntarily moaned, moving closer. Kat too, leant in farther, her hand instinctively moving farther up Patrick's leg.

"Mmm—" Patrick mumbled, attempting to break away from the kiss, "Mmm, stop, stop," Patrick said pulling back halfheartedly.

"What?" Kat asked breathlessly, pushing her hair out of her face.

"I can't, you can't, you can't do that," Patrick stuttered, running his hand through his hair.

"Can't do whattt?" Kat asked teasingly, moving her hand back up Patrick's leg. But before it could get much farther up, he grabbed it, placing it back on her leg.

"Seriously!" Patrick retorted, a smile sneaking onto his face.

"Ohhh, seriously?!" Kat retorted back, smiling at the last time Patrick said those words to her, knowing the outcome would be much different this time.

"Yea seriously," Patrick said smiling, "I better go…" he trailed off, glancing out the window at the deserted school parking lot. Kat nodded, glaring at the steering wheel as if it was the reason Patrick was leaving.

"Alright," Kat sighed as Patrick began to open her car door.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Patrick said smiling, before leaning in and kissing Kat slowly, pulling away slowly. When Kat opened her eyes, Patrick's face was right in front of hers. "Thanks for the ride," he said.

"Sure," was all Kat could manage, as the look in Patrick's eyes was thanking her for a hell of a lot more than just the ride. It said _"Thanks for listening, understanding, not pushing me,"_ all in just his eyes. But then the smirk on his lips said _"Thanks for making out, it was fun, we should do it again sometime,"_ and Kat couldn't agree more.


End file.
